1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an incubator in which water vapor to be supplied to a newborn baby container is generated by heating water.
2. Description of the Related Art
An incubator is used to keep a newborn baby having a particularly low vital force, e.g., an immature or premature baby, in isolation from the outer world and to raise the baby in an optimum atmosphere. Air in the room where the incubator is installed is cleaned and taken in by the incubator. Moreover, the temperature, the humidity, the oxygen concentration, and the like of the intake air are controlled to the optimum values, and the controlled air is supplied to the container.
In control of the humidity of the gas to be supplied to the container, a method of generating water vapor by heating water and controlling the mixing ratio of the water vapor and the gas, whose temperature, oxygen concentration, and the like are controlled, is often employed. Accordingly, an incubator employing this method must have a humidifying mechanism that generates water vapor by heating water.
As one related art of such an incubator, one is known which has a heating portion fixed to the main body of the incubator, and a water reservoir connected to the heating portion through a flexible tube and supported by the support of the main body. While being connected to the heating portion through the tube, the water reservoir is disconnected from the support, and the water reservoir is replenished with water. Water supplied from the water reservoir through the tube is heated by the heating portion, thereby generating water vapor.
If a gap is formed between the water vapor blowing portion of the heating portion and the main body and the like of the incubator, not all the water vapor blown from the water vapor blowing portion is supplied to the container. The water vapor may partly leak to, e.g., an oxygen concentration controller, to cause it to operate erroneously or to corrode it. For this reason, in the related art described above, the heating portion is fixed to the main body of the incubator probably in order to prevent formation of a gap between the water vapor blowing portion of the heating portion and the main body and the like of the incubator.
Since the heating portion and water reservoir of the humidifying mechanism come into direct contact with water, various germs may easily proliferate in them or boiler scale may be easily deposited on them. In the incubator of the related art described above, however, the heating portion cannot be disconnected from the main body at all, and the water reservoir cannot be sufficiently disconnected from the support as it is kept connected to the heating portion through the tube. For these reasons, in the incubator of the related art described above, the heating portion is difficult to clean, and the water reservoir is not easy to clean, either, making it difficult to easily maintain the incubator.